The Warrior and the Tomboy
by ShirleyAnn66
Summary: Another old old old fic. Story time for the little Becks - aka a Jericho flavoured How I Met Your Mother.


**A/N:** Another old, old, old fic. Written for the Livejournal community fictionland - Challenge #6: Once Upon a Time

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor am I affiliated with, anyone or anything to do with CBS, Jericho or anything to do with either of those things. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just taking the characters out to party.

*/*/*/*/*

 _"Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess -"_

 _"Mommy's not a princess!"_

 _"Who's telling this story?"_

 _"You are, Daddy."_

 _"That's right."_

 _"But you promised you'd tell us the story of how you and Mommy met and - and - fell in love and - and - got married and - and -"_

 _"And had us!"_

 _"And Mommy isn't a princess!"_

 _"You'd better stick closer to the truth, Beck."_

 _"...okay, okay. Boy. I didn't know I'd be telling this story to a bunch of critics."_

 _"Da-ad-dy!"_

 _"Okay, okay! Once upon a time there lived a geeky tomboy who was criminally over-worked and under-appreciated in a town called Jericho."_

 _"Beck!"_

 _"Third time's the charm. Once upon a time, there lived a geeky tomboy in a town called Jericho. She taught elementary science to the children of the town and dreamed of a tall, dark and handsome knight in shining armor who would take one look at her, fall madly in love, sweep her off her feet, and take her away from it all."_

 _"I never did!"_

 _"Shush! Okay, she dreamed of a tall, dark and handsome knight in shining armor who would fall madly in love with her and live with her in equality and harmony for the rest of their lives - ow !"_

 _"They'll never go to sleep if you don't behave. And if they never go to sleep, then we'll never get to bed."_

 _"Hmm...? Oh! Okay, munchkins, let's get serious..._"

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful, smart, geeky tomboy in a town called Jericho. She taught elementary science to the children of the town and she thought she'd live a normal life, meet a nice man and live happily ever after. If she sometimes dreamed of a life of adventure and a tall, dark and handsome knight in shining armor, she never told anyone.

The Tomboy was happy with her life. But she didn't know there was an Evil Magician hiding in her kingdom, an Evil Magician determined to destroy everything that was and force everyone to start over. And then one day, the Evil Magician waved his magic wand and toppled the kingdom and everyone in it to the ground.

The Tomboy was not only beautiful and smart and geeky, she was also very kind and very, very brave. She helped the Heroes of Jericho save the town before she left and went on a dark and dangerous journey and saved Jericho herself - first by giving the town the gift of power, and then by finding help when Jericho was besieged by enemies.

Then, one day, a new man came to town. He wasn't a knight in shining armor, but he was a warrior. He wasn't very tall, but he was dark, and she told him a long time later that she'd thought he was handsome. He thought he was fighting for order and the forces of good, but he was actually harming the people he'd sworn to protect. The King who had risen to power after the kingdom first fell wanted to keep the truth about the Evil Magician from the people of the kingdom. The Warrior didn't know the King was hiding the truth, and he didn't know the truth about the Evil Magician.

The Tomboy and the Warrior didn't always see eye to eye. In fact, even though it was love at first sight for the Warrior, they didn't actually trust each other very much when they first met. The people of Jericho, but especially the Tomboy, had too many secrets and too many different loyalties, and the Warrior was blinded by his desire to believe in the King. The Warrior believed that by following the King he was bringing order to the chaos the Evil Magician had left behind. The Tomboy believed in the truth and that the truth would set us free. This led to many arguments between the Tomboy and the Warrior, to harsh words and even harsher actions.

But finally, the Warrior saw the truth. The Tomboy was right. The Warrior was wrong, and he set out to repair the damage he'd done to the Heroes, to Jericho and to the Tomboy.

The Warrior then joined with the Heroes and the Tomboy and fought against the King, who had fooled the people of the kingdom into believing his lies. Then one day the Warrior left the Tomboy behind because he had to go into battle against the King. He led his soldiers to a mighty fortress far away from Jericho and they fought many long and hard battles along the way. The Warrior always remembered the Tomboy, her kindness and bravery, and he dreamt at night of the magic he saw in her eyes. And then one day, the Tomboy showed up at the Warrior's camp to tell him that the Heroes of Jericho had rallied more troops to help him defeat the King once and for all, and they were all there to help him.

The Warrior wanted the Tomboy to stay far, far away from the battle - the Tomboy wanted to play a major role in attacking the fortress. They fought long into the night, but the Tomboy was as stubborn as she was beautiful and smart and geeky and adorable, and although the Warrior just wanted to keep her safe, he knew she'd do just as she pleased, so he let her do what needed to be done, although he was very afraid for her.

It was the longest battle of the Warrior's life. They fought against the King for a day - and a night - and then another day. There was dust and noise and ordered chaos, and he kept the King's men busy while the Heroes wormed their way into the fortress to attack from within. As the second day turned into the second night, the Warrior began to believe the battle would never end - although he always believed he'd win.

Suddenly, the guns fell silent. Everything was eerily calm. There was no movement from the fortress and the Warrior and all his soldiers held their breaths. They waited...and waited...and waited until finally the doors of the fortress opened and the Heroes walked out. The waiting crowd cheered wildly, but not the Warrior because he didn't see the Tomboy. And then she was there - dirty and hurt, but alive, and the Warrior rushed to her side and kissed her with all the love that had been building in him since he met her. And to his relief and joy - she kissed him back.

Then the Warrior and the Tomboy rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after.

 _"They're asleep."_

 _"They look like little angels when they're sleeping."_

 _"And are the very devils when they're awake."_

 _"Too much like their parents? So..."_

 _"Yes, we can go to bed now too."_

 _"Heather?"_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"We are living happily ever after, aren't we?"_

 _..._

 _"What do you think?"_

 _"I think I'm a very lucky Warrior."_

 _"And I'm a very lucky Tomboy."_

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